Wrongful Birth Lawsuit Filed Over Failure to Inform About Problems with Fetus

A $20 million wrongful birth lawsuit has been filed against a Maryland obstetrician and radiology testing company by a family who says that a mixup with their medical records prevented them from receiving information that would have convinced them to terminate their pregnancy. 

The Maryland malpractice lawsuit was filed last week by Jessica Young and Antoine McLeod against Dr. Karen Y. Perkins, American Radiology Services and the Johns Hopkins Health System Corp. The plaintiffs say that the defendants failed to provide them with information that showed that their child would be born with severe birth defects, and allege that this information would have led them to decide to end the pregnancy instead of bringing the baby to term.

The child, Antonio, was born last year with a number of birth defects, including a hole in his diaphragm that resulted in his stomach being located in his chest cavity. The abnormalities were detected months before his birth by a sonogram performed by American Radiology Services. The lawsuit claims that the radiology company sent the results to a doctor with the same name as Dr. Perkins, who was Young’s ob-gyn. Dr. Perkins never saw that sonogram with the abnormalities and thought the child was healthy, and the parents were not told there was a problem.

It was not until Young was admitted to Mercy Medial Center, days before Antonio was born, suffering from signs of contractions that a new sonogram showed that she had an unusual amount of amniotic fluid. Dr. Perkins had a new ultrasound done on July 13, which showed the baby’s birth defects. She told the family about the findings and the previous mix-up. Antonio was born five days later on July 18.

After the birth, Antonio had to be put on a ventilator. The hole in his diaphragm was repaired when he was two weeks old, but he suffered kidney and liver failure. The lawsuit alleges that caring for Antonio for the rest of his life will cost the couple more than $20 million.

While rare, wrongful birth lawsuits allow parents to pursue compensation against medical providers for failing to warn about the risk of conceiving or giving birth to a child with serious genetic or congenital abnormalities. Such medical negligence prevents parents from making a truly informed decision about whether or not to have the child.